For the movies at the end that I haven't reviewed, I will get to those later. By the way, the picture on the right here is not a real ghost picture, just in case anyone's wondering. I made it in Photoshop with a picture of myself superimposed with an old-looking Italian church. Now, on with the movies! I'm listing these movies in chronological order, rather than trying to decide which ones I rank higher.

The Shining (1980)

A classic. Although it's been a long time since I last saw this, the disturbing imagery is easy to recall. Aside from some things that didn't really work in my opinion, like the kid rasping "Red rum" all the time, and the blood pouring out of the doors, this was a genuinely scary movie. It was essentially a haunted house movie, but the twist in this one seems to be that the ghosts of the house weren't out to actually kill the main character (a concept I find slightly curious -- why would one ghost be so anxious to make another ghost?), but rather they seemed to intend to possess him, drive him mad, and perhaps act as their agent. Madness seems like a much more palpable danger from what are essentially immaterial phantoms.

Unlike other haunted house movies, the main characters here already know about the murder/suicide that occurred in this house (hotel, actually), so it's not the sort of case where the ghosts want to be avenged, or for there to be an acknowledgement of the deaths.

As far as disturbing imagery goes, this one was a pioneer. Flashes of the murdered twins, a seductive woman who turns ghastly, and more abstract imagery lead to an overall sense of horror.  (Again, I leave out "Red rum," this time appearing in writing -- was it on a mirror, yet? To drive home the point.)

Ghost (1990)

This was one of the first movies I saw that really explored what it might be like for a recently deceased person to adapt to his new existence. Yes, Beetlejuice also explored this concept in 1988, and I love Beetlejuice, but it was a comedy, and I'm excluding comedies from this list. Ghost itself had some comedic parts, but it was more of a romance suddenly snuffed out, turning into a ghostly revenge movie. It's definitely not horror, though, which sets it apart from most of these others.

The main character Sam's death scene was full of brilliant imagery. At first, he doesn't realise he's been shot, as his astral form runs down the street after his killer. Things begin to fall apart as he sees his slowly dying body being cradled by Molly, and he sees his hand pass through his own face. Then, we're treated to what I interpret as an expression of the confusion and delirium of passing into death -- unconnected images from his life, a false awakening (denial?), and then finally a highly symbolic choice in which he sees the light of the Great Beyond on one side of him, and a vision of his lady love, patiently waiting for him to choose, as he can faintly hear the real Molly out there in the living world begging him to stay with her.

This was the only ghost movie that I can think of that also included a more-or-less "Heaven & Hell" final destination. Usually, ghosts appear to be restless spirits who stick around until their goal has been achieved, and then they go to an eternal rest. What I thought was rather dodgy was how the writer or director decided that Sam would have to indirectly achieve his goal, being the "hero" figure. I won't go into specifics, in case it ruins anything.

This movie also had some great conceptual lines, such as, "You think you're wearing that shirt?" as another ghost asked of the dead Sam. See the same sort of concept in The Matrix: "You think that's air you're breathing now?"

Stir of Echoes (1999)

This movie felt patched-together, and it lost steam after the first half, but I found it to be very scary and intense.  There's something especially disturbing and frightening about a figure shaking uncontrollably, seizure-like, especially when it's shrouded in a body bag.

It starts with a great premise. Kevin Bacon starts seeing visions after his mind is "unlocked" through a hypnosis session at a party. It's not so much that he can now see the ghost, although he does a couple of times...more properly he begins having often symbolic, dream-like visions of the past and the future that give clues as to what happened in this house.

From what I've read, this movie was based on a book that was written before The Shining, so it would be unfair to fault it for the similarities, although perhaps I should fault Stephen King. However, I found the entire plotline involving Kevin Bacon's son to be completely unnecessary. That includes the meeting with the mysterious black man who has the same Shining-like ability as the boy. I think the movie would have been better without the boy. His presence also causes unfair comparisons with The Sixth Sense.

One thing that bothered me was how many characters referred to the missing girl as "retarded", whereas the flashbacks of her do not show any apparent mental problems. She appears to be a somewhat naive, somewhat nerdy girl.

The Sixth Sense (1999)

The House on Haunted Hill (1999)

What Lies Beneath (2000)

The Ring (2002)

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